UPDATED: Ousted Rousseff In NYC Says “Brazil Is Not Broke”

Impeached Brazil President Dilma Rousseff spoke via live stream from Columbia University in New York Tuesday to what turned out to be a decidedly friendly audience.

Rousseff railed against the country's politics and called for direct elections to "wash the country's soul." Elections are to be held in 2018, but she suggested they should come sooner. She also spoke about economic challenges facing Brazil, something she's all too familiar with after being pushed out of office last year with corruption allegations swirling around her as the Lava Jato "Operation Carwash" investigation expanded. President Michel Temer has had a hard time pushing through reforms that would slash government spending. See our posts 4 Brazil Experts On Rates, Banks, Trucks & Bonds and Petrobras Stock Sinks Despite Moody’s Debt Upgrade. The latest scandal: alleged payoffs that resulted in tainted meat sales. See all our recent free posts on Brazil for more.

Rousseff's father was a Bulgarian immigrant, her mother was a teacher, she was raised in the Minas Gerais state, she was part of the resistance movement to military rule in the 1960s, and was jailed and tortured, Columbia University's provost noted in his introduction. He pointed to her administration's work to reduce poverty in a continuation of the efforts under former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, her political mentor. He noted that she was not charged with corruption, but with misreporting government finances.

She spoke in Portuguese with translation. Here are our notes from the live broadcast in translation:

As of 5:18 p.m. Rousseff started by defending herself, saying her impeachment was unjust and she instead referred to it as a coup:

"I believe that Brazil is experiencing a very difficult time. I am certain that we will overcome this period. However, it is needed to understand what happened, and necessary to open a dialogue process that makes clear to all, what effectively happened. I was a victim of two coups. One, a traditional coup. This was perpetrated during the military dictatorship, characterized by stripping the society of its rights. All would be deprived of the rights of organizing, press freedom, to contest, to speak or to have an opinion. In this way, we had a very challenging process in 2016 .... The difference between 2016 and 1964 ... in 2016, we faced a dramatic situation. We were not stripping the rights of all, but stopping some characteristics of the democratic process ... protocols required in a democracy ... an impeachment process can only be perpetrated against the president when there is a constitutional mandate. In the United States, that is treason, crime, corruption or what you call here high crimes and misdemeanors ... Presidentialism requires proof that the president committed a crime in his mandate ... in the parliamentary regime, the prime minister can be forced to resign, or there is a check and balance on the other side. Presidentialism requires crimes and misdemeanors ... in Brazil, there were strange elements in my case. I was judged by budget manipulation, practices of all previous presidents. Something that was normal, understood by the treasury. This understanding was changed after the facts took place, and analysis was made retroactively, criminalizing the process .... the other crime I was accused of, more absurd, of a subsidy for agriculture. I did not participate. No president has participated. Why did this happen in Brazil? For some reason, the coup was already in the works. This was not something that happened by surprise ...."

As of 5:38: Rousseff then emphasized her party's efforts starting in 2013 to lift 36 million Brazilians out of extreme poverty, "sub-human conditions." She also said that the discovery of oil in deep waters, despite technological challenges, and said "when I left government, we had 1.8 million barrels per day ..." She added:

"We did commit mistakes. It would be absurd to say we were an administration that committed no mistakes. [But] we won four elections. ... the Brazilian people knew what they were voting for. But this was not in line with the individuals who committed the coup d'etat, including industrial individuals and members of the media .... they want to re-implement neo-liberalism, the privatization of the state that would increase inequality. Once that happens, we see an increase in democracy. This is an extremely dangerous path in Latin America. We see this in Brazil in the following form ...freezing for 20 years, expenses on health and education .... interest expenses are the ones that have most grown. And then there is another process which is commitment to democracy ... We had a strange amendment that ... when a country does not invest in the weakest individuals who most needs resources, it removes the Brazilian population from the decision making process. this is the hallmark of the new administration ... one harmful thing we see in Europe and the United States is lack of job security. In Brazil, we have an outsourcing law. Any company can outsource - medium and long-term activities. A steel plant could be 100% outsourced, same for a hospital. Outsourcing creates lack of job security .... it allows for a type of hiring in Brazil basically transforms the worker into a corporation. ... Today, we hear that labor law, from 1943, are going to be massacred, a strong word, they are going to massacre this law and cut articles. I was speechless. A pregnant woman can [work if] she has a medical note. This came out in the newspapers, so we have to take it with a grain of salt ...."

The International Monetary Fund was in the country, we were able to pay the IMF three years later and were assured we would set our own macroeconomic policy.... we went from a debtor to a creditor nation ... with $380 billion in reserves. Brazil is very far from broke now. We are creditors to the IMF now ... No, Brazil is not broke. The government did not break Brazil's finances. What happened in Brazil happens in other countries. It is the theory of simply cutting expenses. Yes you have to cut expenses and do house cleaning ... and spend in a more efficient manner, but without receiving new revenues, and collecting more taxes, it is hard to get out of a crisis. You are seeing this all over the world. Many reports by the IMF that this obsession with cutting expenses does not necessarily resolve a financial crisis ...

There has been a deterioration since I left ...The media created this myth of overspending, and they found a budget crime, which is absurd as a charge. The vast majority of people know it has very little basis in fact. Based on what they convicted me of, they need to follow to the letter these laws, but they can't -- they removed flexibility from the budget. You can't know how you will want to modify the budget, and every time you need approval from Congress. This will guarantee that governance will be impossible ...."

Rousseff concluded at 5:51 p.m., saying the country's democracy cannot be "top-down." Pointing to the October 2018 election, she said voters must mend a "rupture" between the government and the populace. We have to have direct elections, and with this election we will reform the political policies and the economy of our country. We can no longer claim that if I don't like the results of the election, I will create an impeachment. She said Brazil needs a new, ethical political system ..."

Thomas Trebat, director of Columbia Global Centers, Rio de Janeiro, Columbia University is now modifying questions. His first question: the political environment is, some say, poisoned, he said. There is an absence of community spirit. Corruption is always in the headlines, and there is a social crisis with high unemployment. We have students here from Brazil, filled with idealism, and privileged to be acquiring knowledge abroad. Some are perplexed by the absence of dialogue and the hate that they see in daily life. They want to use their talents. What is your advice, your personal advice? Should they think about public service? Is it worth it? Or is it better to wait beyond 2018?

Rousseff answered: We have to move away from one question. About the corruption issue -- it is not centered on politics. We have a serious problem in our society. Money is not equally distributed. ... How can we have democracy without politics? They were born together. Even in Greece ... I am an economist. ... my generation [did not want] the military in charge of politics ... it is our obligation to go back to our country and change it. The advantage of democracy, no one will go to jail, be tortured ... we have a democratic path, and this will change relationships. I only ran from president. I was never a professional politician. You don't need to be to do politics. .... Dialogue is essential. Dialogue must be built. There are moments when dialogue breaks down... She said she is "not a candidate in 2018."

Then the questions and answers began ... just after 6 p.m. The first question, from a Master's degree student who said he is a doctor in Brazil. Pointing out general strikes and protests in Brazil, he asked, "how do you see them?"

Rousseff began by saying that until recently, 63 million people in Brazil did not have access to doctors, including in the richest state, Sao Paulo. She said policy prioritizing the poor, including the "More Doctors" program, brought 11,000 Cuban doctors to Brazil several years ago. There will be people on the streets, and they are defending their rights, she said. She suggested the 2018 election could be "moved up" with a "huge climate of intolerance in Brazil." She said she fears right-wing radicalization heading into the election.

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